The Surprisingly Practical Writing Lesson I Learned From Moana
As soon as I got “Let It Go” out of my head, I started singing “You’re Welcome” and “It’s so Shiny...” — thanks to Disney’s mega-hit, Moana. And now with Moana 2 in theatres, which I’ve yet to see, I’m revisiting this writing life realization.
Moana is a feel-good movie with music that I sang for months. One of my clients recently told me that Moana changed her life as a beautiful example of the Divine feminine. Naturally, I listened to the soundtrack while working on her edits.
In the film, Moana lives on a Pacific island and is afraid to sail beyond the reef. She wants to get on a boat and go out there, but every time she tries, she gets hurt. Also, her dad doesn’t want her to go to the ocean. It’s dangerous out there in the big sea. In the movie, she’s 16. I mean, would you let your 16-year-old daughter venture out on the Pacific Ocean alone with no training?
“Screw them,” she says. [Not literally, this is Disney, you guys. This is just my translation]. And she ventures out.
She learns from Maui, the boisterous demigod of the Pacific islands, that you move forward one step at a time.
Here’s the dialogue that turned a light bulb on in my head:
Maui: [lying face-down on a canoe's outrigger] If the current's warm, you're going the right way.
Moana: [putting her hand in the water behind him] It's cold. Wait, it's getting warmer.
[seeing a relieved look on his face]
Moana: Aah! That is disgusting! What is wrong with you?
In case you didn’t get it right away, he peed in the water.
How we know our intuition is guiding us
Take away the pee, however, and the current really does get warmer when she’s steering the boat the right way. This is just one way Moana knows she’s headed in the right direction. She also looks up at the stars for a constellation of a hook — one that resembles the one Maui carries around.
While en route to the island of Te Fiti, where she needs to take Maui to return “the heart” he stole from the island, she finds her way by moving ahead, little by little.
She checked the current and the star patterns ahead, adjusted her sails, moved forward, and then repeated this process over and over again.
This is called wayfaring — someone who “lives on the way.”
Thinking about how wayfaring applies to our lives — how when we route a trip, we look down at our GPS map on our phone along the way to make sure we’re headed where we want to go.
If we apply wayfaring to our lives when we have a writing goal in mind, say, writing a book, we can’t just put our heads down and write and write and write. We review what we wrote, checking in with facts and our hearts to make sure we’re on the right track and staying authentic. We put the writing down for a day or a month to let it sink in.
Then, we move forward, a few paragraphs at a time, adjusting our course as we go.
Intuitive Writing Tip: We’re living and writing on the way.
When running a race, we look at the mile markers on the side of the road and constantly check in with how our bodies feel. Are my feet okay? Is it time for water or some electrolytes? Is that pee or sweat running down my leg?
We find our way on the page one word at a time.
If we don’t like the direction we’re headed in, we adjust and change our course until we feel right on the path.
Then, we keep adjusting until we “land” where we want.
Wayfaring.
Wayfaring isn’t overthinking, manipulating, or forcing.
Yes, we’re checking in as we go, but only for a FEELING in our bodies. We’re writing from a clear, calm, and grounded place to make sure we’re staying true. Writing this way is co-creating with the Divine. And really, everything we write and create isn’t us — it’s always a dance of co-creation.
Double, triple, and quadruple-checking along the way to make sure we’re headed in the right direction and it’s not just pee in the water.
If you enjoyed this blog, you’ll like these too:
